Tooth & Nail (2007)

Director:

Mark Young

Writer:

Mark Young (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

How far would you go to survive?

Plot:

A group of people in a post-apocalyptic world fight to survive against a band of vicious cannibals.

Plot Keywords:

Cannibal | Hospital | Horn | Impalement | Tooth And Nail

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Nicole DuPort	...	Dakota
Rider Strong	...	Ford
Michael Kelly	...	Viper
Alexandra Barreto	...	Torino
Robert Carradine	...	Darwin
Emily Catherine Young	...	Nova
Kevin E. Scott	...	Max
Zack Robidas	...	Yukon
Beverly Hynds	...	Victoria
Jeffrey D. Erb	...	Skinny Man - Forager
Rachel Miner	...	Neon
Michael Madsen	...	Jackal - Rover
Vinnie Jones	...	Mongrel - Rover
Patrick Durham	...	Shepherd - Rover
Jonathan Sachar	...	Wolf - Rover

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Morningstar Films

Quotes:

[first lines]
Darwin: [voiceover] The end. The end of life as we know it. We didn't see it coming, that's for sure. I mean, who plans for an apocalypse? But you know the really funny thing? It wasn't something big and horrible that did us in. It wasn't nuclear war or a deadly virus or a comet crashing into the planet. It wasn't over-population or global warming. I wish it was. You know, something...

Disappointing post-apocalyptic horror

Tooth and Nail is yet another film handling the idea of the majority of the population being killed off and the rest living in a barren wasteland. There are plenty of these films about, and most of them are better than this one as Mark Young's film adds nothing new to the concept and as such is really disappointing. The film does actually benefit from a very well done atmosphere - most of it takes place at night and the director constantly enforces the idea that the central characters are in a hopeless situation. However, the good things about it end there. As mentioned, the film takes place in the future and we focus on a group of people (lead by a college professor) that have holed up in an old abandoned hospital. Of course they plan to rebuild civilisation from the ground up; but their plan hits a stumbling block when they come across another gang of survivors. This gang calls themselves 'The Rovers' and just happen to be cannibals. Naturally, our group find themselves on the menu and have to fight to survive.

Mark Young's screenplay is really weak. The characters are all non-entities and many lines of dialogue are awful, which doesn't exactly help. The film does not feature even nearly enough tension or suspense and spends far too much time focusing on bickering within the central group; which is at times painful since none of the lead actors can act. Even when the film does start to feature a bit more action; it's not well filmed or exciting. Most of the cast is made up of unknown performers, but there are three exceptions, in the form of Robert Carradine, Vinnie Jones and Michael Madsen; who have small and rather ineffective roles. There are a few gory scenes in the film, but nothing to write home about. It's really a shame that the film turned out like this as while there are a lot of post-apocalyptic films about; this type of film can be really well done if handled correctly. The ending is fairly good and the little twist at the end is nice; but overall this is not good horror and represents yet another underwhelming entry in Afterdark's '8 Films to Die For' collection.